Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Sapporo
All seven restaurants on this list are in Chūō. Six carry exceptional wine programs. Teppan holds the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, the only Wine Spectator award in our Sapporo guide.
aki nagao pairs a modern Hokkaido French tasting menu with natural wine, sake, and a sommelier-led list. Sushi Sohei is a nine-seat Edomae counter with an exceptional, sommelier-led program and a sake list of 17 varieties. Yamasa Wa serves free-range chicken yakitori with natural wine, an extensive list, sake, and shochu. Sanko Sha brings a sommelier-led list to sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, and kuroge wagyu in private and semi-private rooms. Hokkaido Yakiniku Kita Ushi grills Hokkaido wagyu tableside in private rooms with an extensive list.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or a deep wine list, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
aki nagao
Deep wine list
Sapporo’s high-end dining scene is not only seafood counters and lamb grills; French technique has its own serious tier, especially when it works with Hokkaido produce rather than against it. aki nagao belongs in that category, with Tabelog Award Silver recognition for 2026, repeated Bronze awards from 2020 to 2025, and selection for Tabelog French EAST 100 in 2021, 2023, and 2025.
Hokkaido Yakiniku Kita Ushi
Deep wine list
Sapporo’s premium yakiniku tier is shaped by privacy, Hokkaido beef, and the city’s appetite for meat after dark. Hokkaido Yakiniku Kita Ushi belongs to that higher bracket, with Tabelog 100 Yakiniku EAST recognition in 2025 and a format built around private-room grilling rather than open-room theatre.
Sanko Sha
Deep wine list
Sapporo’s hot-pot dining runs deeper than winter comfort food, and Sanko Sha sits in the serious sukiyaki-shabu shabu tier with Tabelog 100 Hot Pot 2024 recognition. The draw is not novelty but format discipline: beef-led cooking, private-room flexibility, sommelier service, and a central Susukino setting that suits groups as much as destination diners.
Sushi Sohei
Deep wine list
A nine-seat Edo-style counter in Sapporo's Maruyama district, Sushi Sohei holds a Tabelog Award 2026 Bronze and a place on the Tabelog Sushi EAST 100 list for 2025. Opened in July 2022, it operates on a reservation-only basis at JPY 30,000–39,999 per head, with a sake program curated to match Hokkaido's cold-water fish supply.
Teppan
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
On the 22nd floor of a Chuo-ku hotel tower, Teppan pairs Japanese cuisine with one of Sapporo's most serious wine programs: 845 selections across 11,000 bottles, with particular depth in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Italy, and domestic labels. Sommelier Guido Biotti and Chef Marcello Mereu anchor a dinner-only format that draws a loyal returning crowd to a room where the city grid spreads below.
Yamasa Wa
Deep wine list
Yamasa Wa belongs to Sapporo’s narrower, ingredient-led chicken dining tier: jidori-focused cooking, yakitori technique, and a drinks program that includes sake, shochu and wine rather than beer-hall breadth. Its selection for Tabelog 100 Chicken Cuisine 2025 gives it a clear signal in a city better known to many travelers for ramen, curry and seafood.
ワインレストラン アキヒサ ハンダ
Deep wine list
On the ninth floor of a Susukino-adjacent building in Chuo Ward, ワインレストラン アキヒサ ハンダ occupies a slice of Sapporo's quieter, more considered dining scene. The format pairs wine with considered cooking in a city better known for ramen and crab, making it a natural port of call for occasion meals where the bottle matters as much as the plate.
Planning restaurants for wine lovers in Sapporo
- Which neighborhood are these wine restaurants in?
- Chūō is the neighborhood for every restaurant on this list. aki nagao and Sushi Sohei have sommelier-led lists, Yamasa Wa pours natural wine, and Hokkaido Yakiniku Kita Ushi has an extensive wine list. Teppan holds the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2025.
- Which restaurant on this list holds a Wine Spectator award?
- Teppan in Chūō is the only restaurant on this list with a Wine Spectator award, the Best of Award of Excellence for 2025. Its list has 845 selections across 11,000 bottles, with particular depth in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Italy, and domestic labels.
- Which restaurants on this list pour natural wine?
- aki nagao and Yamasa Wa are the restaurants on this list that pour natural wine. Both are in Chūō, and both wine programs are exceptional. aki nagao pairs natural wine with sake and a sommelier-led list on a modern Hokkaido French tasting menu. Yamasa Wa pairs natural wine with an extensive list, sake, and shochu, alongside free-range chicken yakitori.
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